Chatfield, MN - May 19, 2014 –The Pope & Young Club Records Program has now collected and cataloged data on over 100,000 entries of 29 North American big game species. Information collected by this program is a vital scientific resource for species conservation and bowhunting. With an estimated three million pieces of data, the Records Program provides a powerful tool for researchers and is also a testimonial to the success of the North American Wildlife Conservation Model and the bowhunters role in it.

The Pope & Young Club Records Program honors wildlife management and recognizes the vital role of the bowhunter in successful wildlife conservation. Each entry includes species information, location and bowhunting equipment used, distance of shot, shot angle, time of day, hunting style, age of bowhunter and years of bowhunting experience. The Pope & Young Club has 808 trained and certified volunteer official measurers around North America who provide the service of scoring these animals through a comprehensive collection of measurements, unique for each species, designed to recognize mass and symmetry.

“The Pope and Young Club is very proud of the 100,000th entry milestone. We have been recording entries of mature North American big game animals taken with a bow and arrow since 1961. This is a testament to how this system has withstood time and is the universally recognized standard in record keeping,” says Ed Fanchin, Records Chairman for the Pope & Young Club. “Bowhunters choose a challenging method to hunt and the Pope and Young Club Records Program is a tremendous tool with high Fair Chase ethical bowhunting standards. The success of this program is directly related to the core values of the Pope and Young Club and we are looking forward to the next 100,000 entries.”

Each entry also pays tribute to the years of practice, mastering of skills, observing, learning woodsmanship, drawing deductions, studying and experiencing, planning, patience, persevering rainy days and frozen nights, misses and blown stalks. Long after the memory of that animal has faded, long after the photos and mount have disintegrated to dust, that animal is being honored and remembered for posterity in the Records Program forever.